April 30, 2025 • 60 mins
The Cross leaves a shadow that looms over us. It marks the start of our spiritual journey and reminds us why we are on that journey. Even when we are lost or stray, we can find our way back to Him.
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Firefall Talk Radio is archived, and you can download the episodes to listen to again or share with others. Feel free to share them with others as the Lord leads. Please help us get The Word out.
If our teachings bless you, please let us know by using the contact button on the website.
If you would like to support what we do, there are ways to do so on the main page for Firefall Talk Radio. We appreciate your support and encouragement.
Follow us on YouTube at The Firefall Network.
Links for all social media and streaming platforms can be found on the main page at firefalltalkradio.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard Ground. This is where you find the uncompromised red
letter basics of the Word of God. We focus on
the Book of Acts Church to see how they serve
the Lord. In doing so, I believe we find the
church the Lord intended, not the one man created. The
(00:45):
Porch has always been here to restore the priesthood of
the believer while regaining the world shaking influence of the
early Church. Church age isn't over. The Upper Room experience
is as much for today as it was on the
day of Pentecosta. It's yours if you want it. Links
(01:08):
to all of our social media and streaming sites are
found on the main page at Firefall talk radio dot com.
You can subscribe to us wherever you listen or work.
Just go there every week and you will find the
most recent episode of the Porch or whatever we do
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(01:31):
hope that you will, at the bottom of the main
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to do so. There's even a mailing address if you
would like to send us it that way. If you
do reach out to us and we'll give you all
the information on how to do so. We appreciate your
(01:53):
support and encouragement. Thank you for being a part of
the Porch and the Porch community. If you need prayer,
you want to pray for ban brothers, just let us know.
We will plug you in. Remember we care about you.
I do have a praise report before I start, and
that is this past weekend we celebrated our forty fifth
(02:15):
wedding anniversary. Clearly, God is in the restoration business. If
you know our story, you know that he undid what
the enemy had done. So I just wanted to share
that as a praise and maybe an encouragement for somebody
else out there. So Father, we praise you, We love you,
we thank you. We give you all the honor, all
(02:37):
the glory and all the praise. There's none like you.
Abbah Papa Daddy, were your children, and you allow us
to boldly approach the throne of grace and mercy crying
out Abba Papa Daddy, and we can have access to you.
(03:03):
We've been reconciled to you. We're no longer separated from
you through a veil. No, we have access through Yeshua,
your only begotten son who paid the price for us
on the cross with every drop of his blood. Lord,
thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing what
(03:24):
we never would have been able to do. Thank you
that you are alive. You sit at the right hand
of the Father, and you allow us to sit with
you in the heavenly places. Holy Spirit. We thank you
for what you're doing, teaching us, encouraging us, guiding us,
(03:45):
comforting us. We asked that you do that now that
you join us in this session of the porch, that
you help us to understand this word, that you open
up the eyes of our enlightenment. You give us the
knowledge we need. So we take our thoughts captive to
the obedience of Messiah. Claiming the mind of Messiah, we
(04:09):
cast down every vain imagination that would exalt itself above
the knowledge of Elion, God Most High, Our Abbah, Father,
have you a way, do whatever it is you want
to do. Bless this technology, bless us, bless this time together.
(04:29):
And I ask all these things in your shoe his name.
And if you agree with me, say amen.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Lessons are proprietary information except where note of the information
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presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used without permission.
The date of this broadcast serves as the registered date
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Speaker 1 (05:15):
Okay, let's get ready open up those Bibles. However, you
follow along again, I'm going to encourage you to have
a tangible Bible. If you saw what happened in Europe
recently with the power going down for a period of time,
I believe we're going to see more of that. I
don't believe it's all natural, but if you're doing it
(05:37):
through technology, it'll only happen as long as that technology
is fully charged. Get yourself a real Bible, write in it,
read from it, keep it nearby. So last week we
talked about the fact that we're living the resurrected life
of relationship and not religion. Did that for us? Fulfilled
(06:03):
the law so that we, as God's children would have
freedom and we are no longer slaves to it. By
fulfilling the law and bearing its curse, Messiah ransomed dust
from its claims by becoming the curse for us. You know,
we've been talking about the cross, and the Jews usually
frowned upon the use of crucifixion or its related means
(06:28):
of execution. It was taken to be the ultimate sign
that God had singled them out for condemnation, which is
probably why they went along with the Romans crucifixion of
the Lord. The cross was seen as a cursed tree,
and that's why you sometimes see that phrase in the Bible.
Death by crucifixion implied that the death had come down
(06:52):
as a punishment from God's hand. Well, the son of
God came to earth, and he fixed his thoughts, his eyes,
and ears on that bloody Roman spectacle of the cross,
and he spoke openly about it. The cross never rose
higher on your shoe as horizon as when he approached
(07:14):
the end of his mission. You can see that early
in the Gospel of John as he explains his purpose
to nicodemusists in John chapter three, starting verse fourteen, and
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the son of Man be lifted up, that
(07:35):
whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God did not send his
son into the world to contemn the world, that the
world through him might be saved. That was what this
(07:59):
was all about. A few could foresee that the lifting
up was done with wooden beams, not a golden throne.
Soon after Peter confesses is Shoe as Messiah, issue tells
his disciples that he must suffer, be rejected by the elders,
(08:19):
the chief priest, and the scribes, and be killed and
rise after three days. We see that in Mark eight,
starting verse twenty seven. Now you Shue and his disciples
went out of the towns of Cesarea Philippi, and on
the road he asked his disciples, saying to them, who
do men say that I am? So? They answered John
(08:40):
the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others one of the prophets.
And he asked them a question that he should ask
us every day, But who do you say that I am?
Peter answered and said to him, you are the Messiah.
And he strictly warned them that they should tell no
one about him, And he began to teach them that
(09:02):
the son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke
this word openly, but as we'll see, they seem to
forget it, ignored it. Well, maybe they just didn't want
(09:23):
to believe it. We know the price of the cross,
he told us, and he showed us Luke nine twenty three.
If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
There's where the rubber meets the road. There's where being
(09:45):
a believer and a follower takes on challenge. If anyone
wishes to follow me as a disciple, the Lord says,
he or she must deny themselves, set aside, selfish in trust,
and take up their cross daily, expressing a willingness to
endure whatever may come. Follow me, believing in me, he says,
(10:09):
conforming to my example in living, and if need be
suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in me, Oh no, no,
we don't want that. We don't want be uncomfortable, We
don't want to suffer. Taking up the cross means a
life voluntarily surrendered to God. Never forget that I shared
(10:34):
this last week Relationians two twenty I have been crucified
with Messiah that is in him. I have shared his crucifixion.
It's no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me.
The life I now live in the body I live
by faith, by adhering to, relying on and completely trusting
(10:55):
in the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself up for me. What that says is my old self,
my old nature has been crucified with Messiah. It's no
longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me. So
(11:15):
I live in this earthly body by trusting in the
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
We have shared in his CRUCIFIXI and once we do that,
we no longer live for ourselves, but He lives in
us through the Holy Spirit. The life we live is
(11:37):
by faith rely completely upon Him who loved us and
gave himself up for us. So he paid the price
for our sins, and we also must pay a price
for following him. Oops another topic most don't want to hear.
There is a cost for discipleship thirty nine ninety five
(12:01):
month for you. You can pay for it all at once.
Now I'm just being facetious. The cost isn't what you
put in the basket or in the offering, or what
you mail, or what you venmo, or however you do it. No,
the cost of discipleship is deeper than that. Go with
me to Luke fourteen, starting verse twenty five. Now the
(12:25):
great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said
to them, if anyone comes to me and does not
hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
For whoever does not bear his cross and come after
(12:46):
me cannot be my disciple. Anyone unwilling to deny themselves
and take up their cross daily cannot be his disciples.
And they don't understand we're true Discipleship is all about
everybody wants to bless me, give me, I'm praying for this,
believing for that. But that's not really how it was designed.
(13:12):
If you claim to be a follower of Jesus the Messiah,
you'r Shuahamashiah. You need to learn from the example given
to us by the apostle Paul, who sacrificed everything for
the sake of Messiah and endured many of the persecutions, trials,
and inconveniences that come with living for Messiah in this
(13:33):
present evil world, as many of our brothers and sisters
around the world suffer every day. Sadly, most believers nowadays
aren't willing to take up their cross for Messiah's sake,
and they will give up their Christian faith or journey
(13:54):
at any slight inconvenience that comes with being a believer
or a follower in yr Shure, I've heard that so
many times. I've seen the example of it. The Gallalord
did it when he took up his cross. He did
it willingly and joyfully. Hebrews twelve tells that verses one,
(14:15):
two three. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is
set before us, looking unto your shoe of the author
(14:37):
and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that
was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. That's our life, focusing our eyes on your shore,
who is the author and perfector of faith. The first
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incentive for our belief, and the one capitaloe who brings
our faith to maturity, who, for the joy of accomplishing
the goal setting us free from sinning death and restoring
us to the father set before him, endured the cross,
disregarding the shame that came with it, And one done,
(15:24):
he sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God, revealing his deity, his authority, and the completion
of his work. Oh yes, on the throne, he said,
it is finished, But it was truly done when he
sat down next to his father. Whoever desires to come
(15:45):
after me, he says in Mark eight, starting with Firse
thirty four, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. Now he goes into more detail
about what that means. For whoever desires to save his
life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake,
(16:05):
and the Gospels will save it. For what will it
profit a man if he gains the whole world and
loses his soul? Or what will a man give in
exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me
and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of
(16:26):
him or her, the son of Man will also be
ashamed when he comes into the glory of his Father
with the Holy Angels. When you take all of those
scriptures and tie them together, the meaning changes. Now we
see a bigger cost for carrying the cross, for picking
up our cross, we're losing our life to save it. Otherwise,
(16:50):
we're trading it for what the world can offer us.
We're exchanging our soul for what he was willing to
give us. For whoever is ashamed of me, he says,
here and now my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the son of man will also be ashamed of them
(17:13):
when he comes into the glory of his Father with
the Holy Angels. If you're ashamed, you won't carry that
cross for all to sea. You won't want to be
associated with him. You won't want anybody to know what
you believe. You want to be a closet Christian, a
catacomb Christian. It can't be that way. The New Living
(17:37):
Study Bible says, you show his invitation to his disciples,
and the crowd lays out the cost of being his follower.
To turn from your selfish ways involves letting you shoe
it determine your goals and purposes in life. To take
up your cross is metaphorical. It indicates that faithfulness to
(17:57):
you suer must extend ivery quiesed, even to the point
of death. To follow you, she as teaching an example,
is a continual commitment. It's an ongoing commitment for today
and tomorrow in the future. The Life Application Bible Commentary
says the words applied to the disciples and to all
(18:20):
who want to come after Jesus, that is, to become
a disciple and enter his fellowship, those words include us.
This statement offered special comfort to the believers in Rome,
to whom Mark was writing for they often face persecution
for their faith. Issue invites every person to follow, but
(18:42):
one who desires to follow him must have two attitudes,
a willingness to deny self and a willingness to take
up his or her cross. To deny one's self means
you surrender immedia gratification in order to discover and secure
one's true self and God, your father's interest. It's a
(19:06):
willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security. Boy,
this just blows up the whole prosperity gospel. This attitude
turns self centeredness to God centeredness. To take up the
cross vividly illustrates the humility and submission you Shoe asked
of his followers. And when he used this picture of
(19:29):
his followers taking up their cross as daily could follow him,
the disciples and people knew what taking up the cross meant.
Death on the cross was a form of execution used
by Rome for dangerous criminals. A prisoner carried their own
cross to the place of execution, signifying submission to Rome's power.
(19:54):
Following Yhue therefore means identifying with him and his followers faith,
social and political oppression and ostracism, and not turning back.
For some, taking up the cross might even indeed mean death,
but she his words meant that his followers had to
be prepared to obey God's word and follow his will,
(20:18):
regardless of the consequences, for the gospel's sake, and soon
after he would show him how to do it, and
he would take up his cross. So he was speaking
prophetically there as well. So that initial decision to come
after Messiah and be his disciples a once and for
all act. Oh, it's not just for today, it's not
(20:41):
just for Sunday. If that's the day you worship on,
It's for every day, and from then on, the believer
no longer is his or her own. They belonged to Messiah.
They belonged to him. It's a moment by moment decision
requiring denial of self. That's the cross. We let go
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of all of our personal desires. We let go of
the comfort, We let go of all the accolades that
this world could give us. He sure has offered everything
from Satan in the wilderness, and he turned it all down.
That means following him on the same road of sacrifice
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and service that he took, and it means you may
also experience the abuse that he did. The blessing for
us is this that we can fellowship with him along
the way. I think about that all the time every
day when I wake up and I pray and I
(21:45):
acknowledge him Brew Qatad and I haino Malekkaram, Bless the Lord,
our God, King of the universe. Good morning, Father, good
morning Lord, good morning, Holy Spirit. I can fellowship with
him any time of day or night. I can stop
whatever it is I'm doing, and I always include him
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in everything. He's always present in my mind. He's always
present in my heart and my thoughts. It's only when
I allow the world to intrude upon that that things
go waywire. The Life Application Bible Commentary says the Christian
life is a paradox. To attempt to save your life
means only to lose it. The Greek word for life
(22:29):
is suce, referring to the soul, the part of the
person that includes the personality with all of its dreams,
its hopes, and its goals. A person who saves his
or her life in order to satisfy desires and goals
does it apart from God and ultimately loses their life.
(22:50):
And not only does that person lose the eternal life
offered only to those who believe and accept you show
as Savior as miss, but he or she loses the
fullness of the life promised for those who believe that
abundant life is a life with God. It's not a
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life of abundance. It's the life of an abundance of
His presence in our life. Whoever desires save his life
must lose it, and whoever loses his life for my
sake and the Gospels will save it. If you don't
understand that you really need to dwell upon it, need
(23:33):
to pray for him to reveal it to you. I
gave up a lot to follow him. I didn't realize
it I'd have to give up a lot more along
the way. I really didn't understand any of this, And
as a baby believer, you don't. That's why you need
somebody there to walk with you and disciple you, and
to teach you and to show you that's true. Discipleship
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is by example. The believer Study Bible says. One of
the apparent paradoxes of scripture relates to the voluntary sacrifice
of a man's life for the cause of Messiah. His
verse does not demand martyrdom in order to secure life. However,
the passage does establish that men coming to Messiah must
(24:21):
give him their lives. In such totality, they retain no
claim upon them. Having placed themselves forever in the hands
of the Lord. In the hands of Messiah, they immediately
possess the abundant life. That's why the abundant life is
not cars and home and clothings and money. That money
(24:43):
is the further the kingdom. That money is to bless
others if he gives it to you. That's why I
look at people, and they say, well, look at brother
so and so, or sister this or this person. Look
how they're living. God has blessed them, And I go No,
the God of this world has blessed them. Their business
acumen has blessed them. Our ability to fleece the flock
has blessed them. God wants us to be conduits of
(25:06):
his blessing. If anyone desires to come after me, Lord says,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow him. What does that mean for you? What cross
do you have to take up? Because if you desire
to save your life, you're gonna lose it. If you
(25:28):
desire to save those dreams and those goals and all
those things, and we'll I'll circle back later you'll have
a given account for your life, and maybe that night
it'll be too late. Because what profit is it to
a man or woman if you gain the whole world
and lose your own soul? Or what will you give
(25:50):
in exchange for that soul? What will you give for
the blessed life and the kingdom of God that he offers.
So many believers who become successful, full, or famous, or
move to the eper echelons of society. I look at
them and I see and I want to just simply say,
you are gambling with your soul. You're trading your soul
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to the god of this world. You're exchanging it, and
you've left the shadow of the cross. You don't remember
what good is it for them to gain the whole
world power, financial control over the entire world system of
which who hociton Satan is the head. He's the god
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of this world. He's the one who blesses with you. Oh,
the bank gave you that huge loan for a couple
million dollars to build that big church or complex or
whatever it is you've built. Can God give favor? Yeah,
But I believe if God is going to give it
to you, he's going to give it to you. He's
(26:57):
not going to ask you to go into bondage to
Egypt to have it. Every person will die and give
an account, even the most powerful or wealthy, And if
they have not taken care to save their lives for
an eternity with God, then they gain nothing and they
(27:20):
lose everything. How sad that is. I see people I
admire many I know that I've come to know along
the way from my many years in the entertainment industry,
or the bodyguard industry, and even the health fitness industry,
(27:40):
I've met a lot of famous people, a lot of
powerful people, a lot of very wealthy people, and I
think about them all the time, some of whom I
tried to share the Gospel with but never got the
opportunit unity to pray the sinner's prayer with them and
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pray that the seed that was planted was watered and
somebody else gained the harvest. The Lord gained the harvest.
But you can gain everything and lose everything at the
same time. In this world life application, Bible conmentary goes
on to say, many people spend all their energy seek
(28:26):
and pleasure. You sure have said, however, that a world
of pleasure is centered on possessions, position or power is
ultimately worthless. Whatever a person has on earth is temporary.
It cannot be exchanged for his or her soul. If
you work hard at getting what you want, you might
(28:48):
eventually have a quote pleasurable life, but in the end
you will find it hollow and empty. The answer to
the question is that nothing is as enough value to
exchange for one's soul, even a person would to gain
the world, the person would lose his or her soul,
(29:10):
and that soul counts for eternity. No amount of money, power,
or status can buy back a lost soul. Believers, you
and I we must be willing to make the pursuit
of God more important than the selfish pursuit of pleasure.
(29:31):
If we follow you Shua, we will know what it
means to live abundantly now and to have eternal life
as well. I wish somebody had been clearer about this
with me now. I know. Once we started the Home
Fellowship and I began to teach and preach every week,
(29:54):
I bang this drum because I had learned it in
those eighty eight five years. It took me five years
to come to this realization that as a disciple, I
had to relinquish control of my life, even to the
(30:18):
point of Bill being willing to die and suffer from Messiah.
You Su will promise that those who follow him with
such radical abandon though they may suffer now, they will
be vindicated in the final judgment. So why are you
(30:41):
telling us this, Richard? Why are you sharing this with us? Why?
Because it's easy to lose sight of this and be
overwhelmed to the point of walking away. Go with me
to Luke twenty four, a long section starting with verse thirteen.
(31:02):
Let me take a sip of water before we begin. Ah, okay,
we used to do that with our grandson. Take a
sip and go. He used to do it. I understand
he still does. Now behold two of them. This is
(31:25):
Luke twenty four, starting verse thirteen. Now two of them
were traveling that same day to a village called Themaeis,
which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together
of all these things which had happened. And so it
was while they conversed in reasoned that you see himself
drew near and went with them, But their eyes were
(31:46):
restrained so that they did not know him. And he
said to them, what kind of conversation is this that
you have with one another? And as you walk and
are sad? And then one whose name was Cleophus answered
and said to him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?
(32:07):
And have you not known the things which happened there
in these days? Remember Jerusalem's fold with all these people
from the come all over for the passover us filled
with millions of people. Verse nineteen and he said to
them what things? So they said to him the things
concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty indeed
(32:33):
and word before God and all the people, And how
the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be
condemned to death and crucified him. But we were hoping that
it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed,
beside all of this, today's the third day, since these
things happened. Yes, And certain women of our company, they
(32:56):
arrived at the tomb early astonished us when they did
not find his body. And they came saying that they
all seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.
And and certain of those who were with us went
to the tomb, and speaking of Peter and John, and
found it just as the women had said. But him
(33:18):
they did not see. And he said to them, old
foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Messiah to
have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.
In beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded
(33:42):
to them, and all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And then they drew near to the village where they
were going, and he indicated that he would have gone
on farther, but they constrained him, saying, abide with us
first toward evening, and the day is far spent. And
he went in to stay with them. Now it came
(34:05):
to pass he sat at the table with them, that
he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it
to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him,
and he vanished before their sight, and they said to
one another, did not our heart burn within us? While
(34:25):
he talked with us on the road, while he opened
the scriptures to us. The lex and Bible Dictionary tells
us who Cleophus is. He is one of the two
disciples who you sure meets on the road to Emaeus
after his resurrection. Tradition sometimes assumes that Cleophus's companion was
(34:50):
actually Luke himself, one of the seventy from Luke ten,
and the reason he didn't mention himself was that he
was the writer of this story. They were discussing the
events of the last few days, not knowing that this
stranger knew more about them than they did. It's not
(35:12):
just like it when you're walking with the Lord, but
you sure wanted to hear from them how they really
felt about these events. So they reviewed from all those things,
and how they had trusted that he had been the
true Messiah. We were hoping that it was he who
was going to redeem Israel. Instead beside all of this,
(35:36):
today's the third day since these things have happened. Misunderstanding
what God was doing, the crucive fiction had dashed their hopes.
You know, sometimes when God is working in our life
and we don't truly understand what he's doing, how he's
(35:57):
doing it, or where it's going, we can lose hope.
They did. We've got to walk by faith and not
by sight. Set in Corinthians five to seven. We've got
to walk in a manner consistent with our confident belief
in God's promises. Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart,
(36:23):
to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Ought
not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to
enter into his glory, and beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself that should have been the clue.
(36:45):
But yet their eyes are not open yet. And we
notice that he literally refers to himself as the Messiah,
whereas they had simply called them a prophet, a prophet
mighty indeed, and in word before God and all the people.
(37:05):
Crucifixion didn't negate his identity as the Messiah confirmed it.
But see they were not seeing the bigger picture. Oh
my gosh, how often do we do that? I know
I do. I pray, Lord, let me let me see
the bigger picture, because I'm not getting it. The death
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of Messiah was predicted in scripture. It's right there. And
he rebukes the two for not recognizing from the scriptures
and everything he has said that Messiah had to suffer.
And what did he do? He dealt with their doubts
with the word. Are you doubting something right now? Is
(37:47):
there something going on in your life, in your family
and your business, in some part of your existence. Take
it to the Word. Stop looking for man for your answers,
stop looking for secular humanistic answers. Take it to the Word,
(38:10):
and then take it to the spirit to confirm the word.
So he went from the books of Moses through the prophets,
and he gave an overview of God's plan for the Messiah.
But see that didn't open their eyes. And this always
struck with me. And I remember sitting outside Christian Heritage
on a Saturday night reading the scripture, talking to the
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Lord as I did, and having him teach me. And
I would think, Lord, what opened their eyes? And it
kind of chuckled. And even without me not having read
the scriptures from verse thirty and thirty one and understanding it,
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he said, it was by the way I broke and
blessed the bread, because they'd seen me do it before.
And it came to pass as he sat at the
table with them, that he took the bread by the way,
he's the guest, that's usually the host who does this.
He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave
it to them. And then their eyes were opened and
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they knew him, and he vanished from their sight, just
like the feeding of the five thousand, and Luke nine
sixteen five loaves, two fish, looking up to heaven, he
blessed and broke them and gave them to his disciples
set for the multitude. And we know he fed the
five thousand, probably more like eight thousand men, women and children.
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He did it at the Last Supper in Luke twenty
two nineteen. Took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave
it to them. This is my body which is given
for you do this in remembrance of me. He took
the tap upon himself because he wanted to open their
(40:03):
eyes that way. Isn't that amazing. He could have done
it anyway. He could have waved his hand, he could
have said, hey, guys, it's me. He wanted them to
discern who he was. He wanted them to have revelation
of him. That's what he wants for you. He opened
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their eyes to prove that he was no stranger at all.
It was him all along. You know. I think about
these two guys that are actually walking in the wrong direction.
They're walking away from Jerusalem, and he seeks them out.
They've left the shadow of the Cross, their hearts are broken,
(40:50):
they don't understand, and he goes looking for them. Life
Application Bible commentary says this, when he broke the bread
was the exact time that God wanted them to recognize Ishua.
God had kept them from understanding, He kept them hidden,
(41:12):
but now he opened their eyes through the teaching of
the Word and the breaking of the bread by the
bread of life himself. His mission accomplished. With these two disciples,
issue have vanished from the sight. Even though they didn't
believe the report of his resurrection from the women who
(41:33):
went to the tomb, or Peter and John went to
the tomb, they were walking in the wrong direction away
from Jerusalem. They had lost heart. They didn't understand. So
many believers I've met have hit a struggle or challenge
or problem, something big in their life, and they've walked
(41:56):
away from the shadow of the cross. And yet, even
though they're going the wrong way, he opened their eyes. Oh,
they could have said, hey, this was a angelic visitation,
but it wasn't they go back and talk to the disciples.
(42:18):
It was real. He'd actually walked miles with them, he
questioned them, expounded on the scriptures to them, yielded to
their invitation to abide with them, to even eat food
with them. Oh, no, this was no vision. It was real,
(42:42):
And they said to one another, did not our heart
burn within us while he talked with us on the road,
and while he opened the scriptures to us? That should
have been a clue. Hey, wait, a second. There's only
one person I know that can do this to my heart.
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It's only one person I know that can do that
to my heart. And so he left the vanish before
their eyes, and they were left to discuss how they
felt about it, how they felt in their hearts, and
the opening of the scriptures, and what happened. He changed
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their mood from despair to their heart burning within. Suddenly
they have relief and excitement because of those scriptures. See,
they didn't want them to leave. They wanted to hear more.
They wanted to talk more. Have you ever been like that?
Happens with Larry and I a lot. Once it gets
(43:44):
going and the spirit shows up and the Holy Spirit's
given revelation, you don't want it to stop. Now they
have relief and excitement deep in their heart, not just
in their mind. Their hopes confirmed, their doubts dispelled. Well
(44:06):
guess what. It may have been evening, but they were
too excited to wait until morning. They hurried back to
Jerusalem on foot, literally at seven miles an hour. How
do I know that? Look at Luke twenty four thirty,
verse thirty three. So they rose up that very hour
and returned to Jerusalem found the eleven and those who
(44:29):
were with them gathered together. It was meet meat. They
went right back, saying, the Lord has risen, indeed, and
he has appeared. They said, he goes. They go there,
and the disciples going, the Lord has risen. Indeed he
has appeared to Simon, and we're going to find out
where that was. And they talked about the things that
(44:50):
had happened on the road, and how he was known
to them in the breaking of the bread. And as
they said these things, Yeshu himself stood in the midst
of them and said to them, Peace to you. Wherever
two more gathered, there also is he. They were gathered
(45:11):
in his name. There he is. He will seek you out.
If your heartbroken or lost, dismayed, the enemies beat you up,
really good, he will seek you out. Be willing to
hear his voice, be willing to see him go with me.
(45:38):
John twenty one. Another example of guys going in the
wrong direction, leaving the shadow of the cross John twenty one.
After these things you show showed himself again to the
disciples that the sea of Tiberius. And in this way
he showed himself. Simon Peter Thomas called the Twin Nathaniel
(46:01):
of Kina and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee. It's
John and James, and two other disciples of his disciples
were with them. So the seven of them, and so
Simon Peter says, I am going fishing, Isn't that? Just
like Peter told to sit down on terry in the
upper room and he has a meeting here. He says,
(46:23):
I'm going fishing. And they said, we're going with you.
So they went out immediately got in the boat, and
that night it must have fished all night. They caught nothing.
That's what happened when you try to do it on
your own and you go out there and you're in
the wrong place. One morning had now come, the shoe
(46:46):
stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know
what was Yeshua. And he said to them, children, have
you any food, mean your fishermen, I'd like to buy
some food from you. And they said no. And he
said to them, cast the net on the right side
of the boat and you'll find some. So they cast,
(47:07):
but now they were not able to draw it in
because of the multitude of fish. We remember this happened
when he first met them. Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus
loved being. John said to Peter, it is the Lord. Now,
when Peter had heard that it was the Lord, he
(47:28):
put on his outer garment, for he had removed it
and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples had
come in the little boat, for they were not far
from land, about two hundred cubics, and dragging the net
with fish. Then as soon as they had come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid
on it and bread. Wait a second, they didn't get
(47:51):
to shore yet the fisher in the boat. But yet
he's prepared to feed them. And you said, bring some
of the fish which you've just caught. So Simon went
up and dragged the net to land full of large
fish one hundred and fifty three. Interesting number, very specific
(48:15):
there in the reporting. And though there were so many
of the net had not broken, your shoes said, come
and eat breakfast. He had. None of the disciples dared
to ask him, who are you? Knowing that it was
the Lord? And then you Shua took the bread and
gave it to them. Likewise the fish. This is the
(48:38):
third time you shoe his sodoms showed himself to his
disciples after he was raised from the dead. You know,
the one thing I see in these stories, it's really
easy to get in despair after you leave the shadow
of the Cross. That's really easy to forget why you
were there in the first place. They decide they're going
(48:59):
to go back to what's familiar. They're gonna go fishing. Now,
whether it was flip for pleasure, but maybe they were
actually returning to work thinking it's all over, we're done,
I don't know. But they went back to what they
were familiar with. And that happens all the time with
people I see wander away. They go back to what
they know. When we lose sight of the Cross, we
(49:24):
return to familiar territory, and unfortunately there are familiar things
they're waiting for us. Peter's broken hearted. He denied the Lord.
I mean in a way that I'll read the description
to you. Is his heart rendering. And he wasn't there
(49:48):
when he died like John was in Matthew twenty six.
After the girl keeps accusing him of being a follower,
and he curses and denies and invokes God's judgments. Where's
an oath? I do not know? The man a rooster crowed,
(50:09):
and Peter remembered the prophetic word of Yushuah when he said,
before a rooster crowz you will deny me three times.
And he went outside and wept bitterly. And the strongest
concordance that word wept, Claire, is to weep, to cry,
(50:31):
to mourn. It's an act of weeping or crying, expressing
deep sorrow. That's the sense of emotional outpouring, whether a
personal grief or repentance. It's a it's a mega, it's
a cry. It's a scream when you realize you've let
(50:51):
him down, when you realize that you failed him. John
may have been the first to recognize the Lord, but
Peter was the first to react. Peter had made a
lot of bad decisions, and he he'll probably make more
(51:14):
along the way. But it was his zeal that we
saw at that moment that would eventually be gentle to
good use. On the day of Pentecost, and he swims
a hundred yards to shore. He couldn't wait. When you
wander away, when you leave the shadow of the cross
(51:37):
and you see him and he calls your voice, you
don't want to wait. The two Disciples Cleophus and Luke.
They walked seven miles back from the way they came
within the hour. Poop couldn't wait and another miraculous catch.
(52:00):
Just as when he first met them, He's telling them
go back to the calling. I will supply your needs.
I'm gonna tell you something right now. If you have
a calling, you can't walk away from it. I'm calling
from Him, not what you desire, oh you just I'm
called to do this, called to do that. If it
(52:21):
doesn't pertain to the kingdom and the furthering of the kingdom,
it's not a calling. If it doesn't glorify him, it's
not an ordained calling. But you can't walk away from it.
And the thing I like about John, Peter and John
obviously had an older brother younger brother relationship. Obviously John
(52:41):
got on Peter's nerves, but they were always together. We
see that in the Book of Acts. John's the only
one who records the Lord restoring Peter to ministry after
that breakfast by the sea of Tiberius did not our
(53:04):
heart burn within us while he talked with us on
the road, and while he opened the scripture to us.
It's with those two disciples on the road to him,
they have said, at the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and it's so easy to
(53:31):
wander away. Look at men who walked with him. They
knew him personally. They slept with him around the fire,
they ate with him. They saw the miracles, They felt
his hug, his hand upon their shoulder. They heard his
voice in a moment of despair, in a moment of
(53:53):
not understanding the going in the wrong direction. Maybe you've
never done that, but if you ever do, I want
you to remember what I'm saying here today. Or maybe
you have, maybe you still are. I don't know. But
he's seeking you out, he's calling you, He's appearing to
(54:16):
you in some way, shape, form, or fashion, and there's
a burn in your heart for him. I found this
section here I want to read to you. It was
in one of the commentaries. Unfortunately I did not copy
(54:39):
down where I got it from, and that's on me,
but it's not mine. So I'm telling you that one
of the marks of true conversion is the way a
person's heart is changed by the indwelling Messiah. Truth and
events that one seemed unimportant or even irrelevant take on
new significance, new meanings, a cold, dead heart, completely wrapped
(55:04):
up in self centered pursuits against the thaw, and warmed
to the realities of the Spirit and the needs of others.
John Wesley described it by saying his heart was strangely warmed.
The imassed bound disciples asked, were not our hearts burning
(55:24):
within us while he was talking to us on the road,
while he was opening with scriptures to us? Does your
heart burn for the realities of God as it grown
cold due to neglect or sin? Have you lost sight
(55:46):
of the Cross? Only by spending time in the presence
of the living Messiah? Can you reverse the cooling process?
Idt to spending time with him today, tomorrow, and the
(56:08):
next day and every day of your life. If our
hearts are on fire for him, we never lose sight
of the Cross. That's what the Holy Spirit does. It
reminds us of Him, of what he said, of who
he was. It burns within us. And remember none of
(56:28):
these people had been filled with the spirit. Yet you
are I am. That fire is there. It wants to burn,
but you have to put wood on it. You've got
to put something on it. You can't put it out,
you can't quench it. This world so easily does that,
(56:49):
the enemy so easily does that. So as we are
in the transition from Passover to First Fruits to Pentecost,
regain that fire, and even if you have it, make
(57:10):
it greater. It's getting very dark around us, and there's
a lot of dark, cold, demonic things happening. And we
can either respond to it in anger and in the flesh,
or we can respond to it in His name and
his power with his heart. Father, I come to you
(57:30):
right now on behalf of myself and my brothers and
sisters that are listening. I ask you to forgive us
if we've lost sight of the cross. Ask you to
forgive us if we've lost sight of the price you paid.
I ask you to forgive us if we've been unwilling
to pay the price ourselves, and to pick up our
(57:52):
cross daily to follow you. To put down our selfish
desires or preconceived notions or dreams and things that we
thought were of you but never were. Burned it out
of us, Burn the dross out of us, Make us
pure gold, that we reflect you, that we shine you
(58:13):
to a lost and dying world. Remind us each and
every day, Holy Spirit, to pick up our cross, to
be like he was, to be like he is. I
asked for healing in all those areas that the enemy
has heaped condemnation upon us because we failed, and remind
(58:38):
us he forgave Peter. He would have forgiven Judas, but
Judas didn't ask for it. He took his own life.
Help us to remember Lord, and help us to do
this not just for us, but for others. Right now,
(58:59):
I wish I could see my brothers and sisters, because
I know that there are some out there that just
need a hug from you, to know that it's okay.
I forgive you. I'm here with you. I've never left you.
You're not an orphan. No. I will be with you
to the end of time. Fill them, heal them, touch them,
(59:27):
and you shoe his name. Amen. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. May the Lord, may I don't
know I, make his face to shine upon you and
be gracious to you. May the Lord I don't know
you shoe a hummoshiak lift up his countenance upon you
(59:51):
and give you peace. Give you shall oam. I'm Richard Grin.
This has been the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio.
Hello, Welcome to the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio. I'm
Richard Ground. This is where you find the uncompromised red
letter basics of the Word of God. We focus on
the Book of Acts Church to see how they serve
the Lord. In doing so, I believe we find the
church the Lord intended, not the one man created. The
(00:45):
Porch has always been here to restore the priesthood of
the believer while regaining the world shaking influence of the
early Church. Church age isn't over. The Upper Room experience
is as much for today as it was on the
day of Pentecosta. It's yours if you want it. Links
(01:08):
to all of our social media and streaming sites are
found on the main page at Firefall talk radio dot com.
You can subscribe to us wherever you listen or work.
Just go there every week and you will find the
most recent episode of the Porch or whatever we do
embedded there. If you'd like to support us, and we
(01:31):
hope that you will, at the bottom of the main
page for Firefall Talk radio dot com, there are ways
to do so. There's even a mailing address if you
would like to send us it that way. If you
do reach out to us and we'll give you all
the information on how to do so. We appreciate your
(01:53):
support and encouragement. Thank you for being a part of
the Porch and the Porch community. If you need prayer,
you want to pray for ban brothers, just let us know.
We will plug you in. Remember we care about you.
I do have a praise report before I start, and
that is this past weekend we celebrated our forty fifth
(02:15):
wedding anniversary. Clearly, God is in the restoration business. If
you know our story, you know that he undid what
the enemy had done. So I just wanted to share
that as a praise and maybe an encouragement for somebody
else out there. So Father, we praise you, We love you,
we thank you. We give you all the honor, all
(02:37):
the glory and all the praise. There's none like you.
Abbah Papa Daddy, were your children, and you allow us
to boldly approach the throne of grace and mercy crying
out Abba Papa Daddy, and we can have access to you.
(03:03):
We've been reconciled to you. We're no longer separated from
you through a veil. No, we have access through Yeshua,
your only begotten son who paid the price for us
on the cross with every drop of his blood. Lord,
thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing what
(03:24):
we never would have been able to do. Thank you
that you are alive. You sit at the right hand
of the Father, and you allow us to sit with
you in the heavenly places. Holy Spirit. We thank you
for what you're doing, teaching us, encouraging us, guiding us,
(03:45):
comforting us. We asked that you do that now that
you join us in this session of the porch, that
you help us to understand this word, that you open
up the eyes of our enlightenment. You give us the
knowledge we need. So we take our thoughts captive to
the obedience of Messiah. Claiming the mind of Messiah, we
(04:09):
cast down every vain imagination that would exalt itself above
the knowledge of Elion, God Most High, Our Abbah, Father,
have you a way, do whatever it is you want
to do. Bless this technology, bless us, bless this time together.
(04:29):
And I ask all these things in your shoe his name.
And if you agree with me, say amen.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Lessons are proprietary information except where note of the information
comes from outside sources. Combination of that information the manner
presented is exclusive, cannot be repeated or used without permission.
The date of this broadcast serves as the registered date
of the following information.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Okay, let's get ready open up those Bibles. However, you
follow along again, I'm going to encourage you to have
a tangible Bible. If you saw what happened in Europe
recently with the power going down for a period of time,
I believe we're going to see more of that. I
don't believe it's all natural, but if you're doing it
(05:37):
through technology, it'll only happen as long as that technology
is fully charged. Get yourself a real Bible, write in it,
read from it, keep it nearby. So last week we
talked about the fact that we're living the resurrected life
of relationship and not religion. Did that for us? Fulfilled
(06:03):
the law so that we, as God's children would have
freedom and we are no longer slaves to it. By
fulfilling the law and bearing its curse, Messiah ransomed dust
from its claims by becoming the curse for us. You know,
we've been talking about the cross, and the Jews usually
frowned upon the use of crucifixion or its related means
(06:28):
of execution. It was taken to be the ultimate sign
that God had singled them out for condemnation, which is
probably why they went along with the Romans crucifixion of
the Lord. The cross was seen as a cursed tree,
and that's why you sometimes see that phrase in the Bible.
Death by crucifixion implied that the death had come down
(06:52):
as a punishment from God's hand. Well, the son of
God came to earth, and he fixed his thoughts, his eyes,
and ears on that bloody Roman spectacle of the cross,
and he spoke openly about it. The cross never rose
higher on your shoe as horizon as when he approached
(07:14):
the end of his mission. You can see that early
in the Gospel of John as he explains his purpose
to nicodemusists in John chapter three, starting verse fourteen, and
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the son of Man be lifted up, that
(07:35):
whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God did not send his
son into the world to contemn the world, that the
world through him might be saved. That was what this
(07:59):
was all about. A few could foresee that the lifting
up was done with wooden beams, not a golden throne.
Soon after Peter confesses is Shoe as Messiah, issue tells
his disciples that he must suffer, be rejected by the elders,
(08:19):
the chief priest, and the scribes, and be killed and
rise after three days. We see that in Mark eight,
starting verse twenty seven. Now you Shue and his disciples
went out of the towns of Cesarea Philippi, and on
the road he asked his disciples, saying to them, who
do men say that I am? So? They answered John
(08:40):
the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others one of the prophets.
And he asked them a question that he should ask
us every day, But who do you say that I am?
Peter answered and said to him, you are the Messiah.
And he strictly warned them that they should tell no
one about him, And he began to teach them that
(09:02):
the son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke
this word openly, but as we'll see, they seem to
forget it, ignored it. Well, maybe they just didn't want
(09:23):
to believe it. We know the price of the cross,
he told us, and he showed us Luke nine twenty three.
If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
There's where the rubber meets the road. There's where being
(09:45):
a believer and a follower takes on challenge. If anyone
wishes to follow me as a disciple, the Lord says,
he or she must deny themselves, set aside, selfish in trust,
and take up their cross daily, expressing a willingness to
endure whatever may come. Follow me, believing in me, he says,
(10:09):
conforming to my example in living, and if need be
suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in me, Oh no, no,
we don't want that. We don't want be uncomfortable, We
don't want to suffer. Taking up the cross means a
life voluntarily surrendered to God. Never forget that I shared
(10:34):
this last week Relationians two twenty I have been crucified
with Messiah that is in him. I have shared his crucifixion.
It's no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me.
The life I now live in the body I live
by faith, by adhering to, relying on and completely trusting
(10:55):
in the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself up for me. What that says is my old self,
my old nature has been crucified with Messiah. It's no
longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me. So
(11:15):
I live in this earthly body by trusting in the
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
We have shared in his CRUCIFIXI and once we do that,
we no longer live for ourselves, but He lives in
us through the Holy Spirit. The life we live is
(11:37):
by faith rely completely upon Him who loved us and
gave himself up for us. So he paid the price
for our sins, and we also must pay a price
for following him. Oops another topic most don't want to hear.
There is a cost for discipleship thirty nine ninety five
(12:01):
month for you. You can pay for it all at once.
Now I'm just being facetious. The cost isn't what you
put in the basket or in the offering, or what
you mail, or what you venmo, or however you do it. No,
the cost of discipleship is deeper than that. Go with
me to Luke fourteen, starting verse twenty five. Now the
(12:25):
great multitudes went with him, and he turned and said
to them, if anyone comes to me and does not
hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
For whoever does not bear his cross and come after
(12:46):
me cannot be my disciple. Anyone unwilling to deny themselves
and take up their cross daily cannot be his disciples.
And they don't understand we're true Discipleship is all about
everybody wants to bless me, give me, I'm praying for this,
believing for that. But that's not really how it was designed.
(13:12):
If you claim to be a follower of Jesus the Messiah,
you'r Shuahamashiah. You need to learn from the example given
to us by the apostle Paul, who sacrificed everything for
the sake of Messiah and endured many of the persecutions, trials,
and inconveniences that come with living for Messiah in this
(13:33):
present evil world, as many of our brothers and sisters
around the world suffer every day. Sadly, most believers nowadays
aren't willing to take up their cross for Messiah's sake,
and they will give up their Christian faith or journey
(13:54):
at any slight inconvenience that comes with being a believer
or a follower in yr Shure, I've heard that so
many times. I've seen the example of it. The Gallalord
did it when he took up his cross. He did
it willingly and joyfully. Hebrews twelve tells that verses one,
(14:15):
two three. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is
set before us, looking unto your shoe of the author
(14:37):
and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that
was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. That's our life, focusing our eyes on your shore,
who is the author and perfector of faith. The first
(15:01):
incentive for our belief, and the one capitaloe who brings
our faith to maturity, who, for the joy of accomplishing
the goal setting us free from sinning death and restoring
us to the father set before him, endured the cross,
disregarding the shame that came with it, And one done,
(15:24):
he sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God, revealing his deity, his authority, and the completion
of his work. Oh yes, on the throne, he said,
it is finished, But it was truly done when he
sat down next to his father. Whoever desires to come
(15:45):
after me, he says in Mark eight, starting with Firse
thirty four, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. Now he goes into more detail
about what that means. For whoever desires to save his
life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake,
(16:05):
and the Gospels will save it. For what will it
profit a man if he gains the whole world and
loses his soul? Or what will a man give in
exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me
and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of
(16:26):
him or her, the son of Man will also be
ashamed when he comes into the glory of his Father
with the Holy Angels. When you take all of those
scriptures and tie them together, the meaning changes. Now we
see a bigger cost for carrying the cross, for picking
up our cross, we're losing our life to save it. Otherwise,
(16:50):
we're trading it for what the world can offer us.
We're exchanging our soul for what he was willing to
give us. For whoever is ashamed of me, he says,
here and now my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the son of man will also be ashamed of them
(17:13):
when he comes into the glory of his Father with
the Holy Angels. If you're ashamed, you won't carry that
cross for all to sea. You won't want to be
associated with him. You won't want anybody to know what
you believe. You want to be a closet Christian, a
catacomb Christian. It can't be that way. The New Living
(17:37):
Study Bible says, you show his invitation to his disciples,
and the crowd lays out the cost of being his follower.
To turn from your selfish ways involves letting you shoe
it determine your goals and purposes in life. To take
up your cross is metaphorical. It indicates that faithfulness to
(17:57):
you suer must extend ivery quiesed, even to the point
of death. To follow you, she as teaching an example,
is a continual commitment. It's an ongoing commitment for today
and tomorrow in the future. The Life Application Bible Commentary
says the words applied to the disciples and to all
(18:20):
who want to come after Jesus, that is, to become
a disciple and enter his fellowship, those words include us.
This statement offered special comfort to the believers in Rome,
to whom Mark was writing for they often face persecution
for their faith. Issue invites every person to follow, but
(18:42):
one who desires to follow him must have two attitudes,
a willingness to deny self and a willingness to take
up his or her cross. To deny one's self means
you surrender immedia gratification in order to discover and secure
one's true self and God, your father's interest. It's a
(19:06):
willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security. Boy,
this just blows up the whole prosperity gospel. This attitude
turns self centeredness to God centeredness. To take up the
cross vividly illustrates the humility and submission you Shoe asked
of his followers. And when he used this picture of
(19:29):
his followers taking up their cross as daily could follow him,
the disciples and people knew what taking up the cross meant.
Death on the cross was a form of execution used
by Rome for dangerous criminals. A prisoner carried their own
cross to the place of execution, signifying submission to Rome's power.
(19:54):
Following Yhue therefore means identifying with him and his followers faith,
social and political oppression and ostracism, and not turning back.
For some, taking up the cross might even indeed mean death,
but she his words meant that his followers had to
be prepared to obey God's word and follow his will,
(20:18):
regardless of the consequences, for the gospel's sake, and soon
after he would show him how to do it, and
he would take up his cross. So he was speaking
prophetically there as well. So that initial decision to come
after Messiah and be his disciples a once and for
all act. Oh, it's not just for today, it's not
(20:41):
just for Sunday. If that's the day you worship on,
It's for every day, and from then on, the believer
no longer is his or her own. They belonged to Messiah.
They belonged to him. It's a moment by moment decision
requiring denial of self. That's the cross. We let go
(21:02):
of all of our personal desires. We let go of
the comfort, We let go of all the accolades that
this world could give us. He sure has offered everything
from Satan in the wilderness, and he turned it all down.
That means following him on the same road of sacrifice
(21:23):
and service that he took, and it means you may
also experience the abuse that he did. The blessing for
us is this that we can fellowship with him along
the way. I think about that all the time every
day when I wake up and I pray and I
(21:45):
acknowledge him Brew Qatad and I haino Malekkaram, Bless the Lord,
our God, King of the universe. Good morning, Father, good
morning Lord, good morning, Holy Spirit. I can fellowship with
him any time of day or night. I can stop
whatever it is I'm doing, and I always include him
(22:06):
in everything. He's always present in my mind. He's always
present in my heart and my thoughts. It's only when
I allow the world to intrude upon that that things
go waywire. The Life Application Bible Commentary says the Christian
life is a paradox. To attempt to save your life
means only to lose it. The Greek word for life
(22:29):
is suce, referring to the soul, the part of the
person that includes the personality with all of its dreams,
its hopes, and its goals. A person who saves his
or her life in order to satisfy desires and goals
does it apart from God and ultimately loses their life.
(22:50):
And not only does that person lose the eternal life
offered only to those who believe and accept you show
as Savior as miss, but he or she loses the
fullness of the life promised for those who believe that
abundant life is a life with God. It's not a
(23:11):
life of abundance. It's the life of an abundance of
His presence in our life. Whoever desires save his life
must lose it, and whoever loses his life for my
sake and the Gospels will save it. If you don't
understand that you really need to dwell upon it, need
(23:33):
to pray for him to reveal it to you. I
gave up a lot to follow him. I didn't realize
it I'd have to give up a lot more along
the way. I really didn't understand any of this, And
as a baby believer, you don't. That's why you need
somebody there to walk with you and disciple you, and
to teach you and to show you that's true. Discipleship
(23:57):
is by example. The believer Study Bible says. One of
the apparent paradoxes of scripture relates to the voluntary sacrifice
of a man's life for the cause of Messiah. His
verse does not demand martyrdom in order to secure life. However,
the passage does establish that men coming to Messiah must
(24:21):
give him their lives. In such totality, they retain no
claim upon them. Having placed themselves forever in the hands
of the Lord. In the hands of Messiah, they immediately
possess the abundant life. That's why the abundant life is
not cars and home and clothings and money. That money
(24:43):
is the further the kingdom. That money is to bless
others if he gives it to you. That's why I
look at people, and they say, well, look at brother
so and so, or sister this or this person. Look
how they're living. God has blessed them, And I go No,
the God of this world has blessed them. Their business
acumen has blessed them. Our ability to fleece the flock
has blessed them. God wants us to be conduits of
(25:06):
his blessing. If anyone desires to come after me, Lord says,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow him. What does that mean for you? What cross
do you have to take up? Because if you desire
to save your life, you're gonna lose it. If you
(25:28):
desire to save those dreams and those goals and all
those things, and we'll I'll circle back later you'll have
a given account for your life, and maybe that night
it'll be too late. Because what profit is it to
a man or woman if you gain the whole world
and lose your own soul? Or what will you give
(25:50):
in exchange for that soul? What will you give for
the blessed life and the kingdom of God that he offers.
So many believers who become successful, full, or famous, or
move to the eper echelons of society. I look at
them and I see and I want to just simply say,
you are gambling with your soul. You're trading your soul
(26:13):
to the god of this world. You're exchanging it, and
you've left the shadow of the cross. You don't remember
what good is it for them to gain the whole
world power, financial control over the entire world system of
which who hociton Satan is the head. He's the god
(26:36):
of this world. He's the one who blesses with you. Oh,
the bank gave you that huge loan for a couple
million dollars to build that big church or complex or
whatever it is you've built. Can God give favor? Yeah,
But I believe if God is going to give it
to you, he's going to give it to you. He's
(26:57):
not going to ask you to go into bondage to
Egypt to have it. Every person will die and give
an account, even the most powerful or wealthy, And if
they have not taken care to save their lives for
an eternity with God, then they gain nothing and they
(27:20):
lose everything. How sad that is. I see people I
admire many I know that I've come to know along
the way from my many years in the entertainment industry,
or the bodyguard industry, and even the health fitness industry,
(27:40):
I've met a lot of famous people, a lot of
powerful people, a lot of very wealthy people, and I
think about them all the time, some of whom I
tried to share the Gospel with but never got the
opportunit unity to pray the sinner's prayer with them and
(28:03):
pray that the seed that was planted was watered and
somebody else gained the harvest. The Lord gained the harvest.
But you can gain everything and lose everything at the
same time. In this world life application, Bible conmentary goes
on to say, many people spend all their energy seek
(28:26):
and pleasure. You sure have said, however, that a world
of pleasure is centered on possessions, position or power is
ultimately worthless. Whatever a person has on earth is temporary.
It cannot be exchanged for his or her soul. If
you work hard at getting what you want, you might
(28:48):
eventually have a quote pleasurable life, but in the end
you will find it hollow and empty. The answer to
the question is that nothing is as enough value to
exchange for one's soul, even a person would to gain
the world, the person would lose his or her soul,
(29:10):
and that soul counts for eternity. No amount of money, power,
or status can buy back a lost soul. Believers, you
and I we must be willing to make the pursuit
of God more important than the selfish pursuit of pleasure.
(29:31):
If we follow you Shua, we will know what it
means to live abundantly now and to have eternal life
as well. I wish somebody had been clearer about this
with me now. I know. Once we started the Home
Fellowship and I began to teach and preach every week,
(29:54):
I bang this drum because I had learned it in
those eighty eight five years. It took me five years
to come to this realization that as a disciple, I
had to relinquish control of my life, even to the
(30:18):
point of Bill being willing to die and suffer from Messiah.
You Su will promise that those who follow him with
such radical abandon though they may suffer now, they will
be vindicated in the final judgment. So why are you
(30:41):
telling us this, Richard? Why are you sharing this with us? Why?
Because it's easy to lose sight of this and be
overwhelmed to the point of walking away. Go with me
to Luke twenty four, a long section starting with verse thirteen.
(31:02):
Let me take a sip of water before we begin. Ah, okay,
we used to do that with our grandson. Take a
sip and go. He used to do it. I understand
he still does. Now behold two of them. This is
(31:25):
Luke twenty four, starting verse thirteen. Now two of them
were traveling that same day to a village called Themaeis,
which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together
of all these things which had happened. And so it
was while they conversed in reasoned that you see himself
drew near and went with them, But their eyes were
(31:46):
restrained so that they did not know him. And he
said to them, what kind of conversation is this that
you have with one another? And as you walk and
are sad? And then one whose name was Cleophus answered
and said to him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?
(32:07):
And have you not known the things which happened there
in these days? Remember Jerusalem's fold with all these people
from the come all over for the passover us filled
with millions of people. Verse nineteen and he said to
them what things? So they said to him the things
concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty indeed
(32:33):
and word before God and all the people, And how
the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be
condemned to death and crucified him. But we were hoping that
it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed,
beside all of this, today's the third day, since these
things happened. Yes, And certain women of our company, they
(32:56):
arrived at the tomb early astonished us when they did
not find his body. And they came saying that they
all seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.
And and certain of those who were with us went
to the tomb, and speaking of Peter and John, and
found it just as the women had said. But him
(33:18):
they did not see. And he said to them, old
foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Messiah to
have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.
In beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded
(33:42):
to them, and all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And then they drew near to the village where they
were going, and he indicated that he would have gone
on farther, but they constrained him, saying, abide with us
first toward evening, and the day is far spent. And
he went in to stay with them. Now it came
(34:05):
to pass he sat at the table with them, that
he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it
to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him,
and he vanished before their sight, and they said to
one another, did not our heart burn within us? While
(34:25):
he talked with us on the road, while he opened
the scriptures to us. The lex and Bible Dictionary tells
us who Cleophus is. He is one of the two
disciples who you sure meets on the road to Emaeus
after his resurrection. Tradition sometimes assumes that Cleophus's companion was
(34:50):
actually Luke himself, one of the seventy from Luke ten,
and the reason he didn't mention himself was that he
was the writer of this story. They were discussing the
events of the last few days, not knowing that this
stranger knew more about them than they did. It's not
(35:12):
just like it when you're walking with the Lord, but
you sure wanted to hear from them how they really
felt about these events. So they reviewed from all those things,
and how they had trusted that he had been the
true Messiah. We were hoping that it was he who
was going to redeem Israel. Instead beside all of this,
(35:36):
today's the third day since these things have happened. Misunderstanding
what God was doing, the crucive fiction had dashed their hopes.
You know, sometimes when God is working in our life
and we don't truly understand what he's doing, how he's
(35:57):
doing it, or where it's going, we can lose hope.
They did. We've got to walk by faith and not
by sight. Set in Corinthians five to seven. We've got
to walk in a manner consistent with our confident belief
in God's promises. Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart,
(36:23):
to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Ought
not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to
enter into his glory, and beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself that should have been the clue.
(36:45):
But yet their eyes are not open yet. And we
notice that he literally refers to himself as the Messiah,
whereas they had simply called them a prophet, a prophet
mighty indeed, and in word before God and all the people.
(37:05):
Crucifixion didn't negate his identity as the Messiah confirmed it.
But see they were not seeing the bigger picture. Oh
my gosh, how often do we do that? I know
I do. I pray, Lord, let me let me see
the bigger picture, because I'm not getting it. The death
(37:26):
of Messiah was predicted in scripture. It's right there. And
he rebukes the two for not recognizing from the scriptures
and everything he has said that Messiah had to suffer.
And what did he do? He dealt with their doubts
with the word. Are you doubting something right now? Is
(37:47):
there something going on in your life, in your family
and your business, in some part of your existence. Take
it to the Word. Stop looking for man for your answers,
stop looking for secular humanistic answers. Take it to the Word,
(38:10):
and then take it to the spirit to confirm the word.
So he went from the books of Moses through the prophets,
and he gave an overview of God's plan for the Messiah.
But see that didn't open their eyes. And this always
struck with me. And I remember sitting outside Christian Heritage
on a Saturday night reading the scripture, talking to the
(38:32):
Lord as I did, and having him teach me. And
I would think, Lord, what opened their eyes? And it
kind of chuckled. And even without me not having read
the scriptures from verse thirty and thirty one and understanding it,
(38:57):
he said, it was by the way I broke and
blessed the bread, because they'd seen me do it before.
And it came to pass as he sat at the
table with them, that he took the bread by the way,
he's the guest, that's usually the host who does this.
He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave
it to them. And then their eyes were opened and
(39:21):
they knew him, and he vanished from their sight, just
like the feeding of the five thousand, and Luke nine
sixteen five loaves, two fish, looking up to heaven, he
blessed and broke them and gave them to his disciples
set for the multitude. And we know he fed the
five thousand, probably more like eight thousand men, women and children.
(39:42):
He did it at the Last Supper in Luke twenty
two nineteen. Took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave
it to them. This is my body which is given
for you do this in remembrance of me. He took
the tap upon himself because he wanted to open their
(40:03):
eyes that way. Isn't that amazing. He could have done
it anyway. He could have waved his hand, he could
have said, hey, guys, it's me. He wanted them to
discern who he was. He wanted them to have revelation
of him. That's what he wants for you. He opened
(40:29):
their eyes to prove that he was no stranger at all.
It was him all along. You know. I think about
these two guys that are actually walking in the wrong direction.
They're walking away from Jerusalem, and he seeks them out.
They've left the shadow of the Cross, their hearts are broken,
(40:50):
they don't understand, and he goes looking for them. Life
Application Bible commentary says this, when he broke the bread
was the exact time that God wanted them to recognize Ishua.
God had kept them from understanding, He kept them hidden,
(41:12):
but now he opened their eyes through the teaching of
the Word and the breaking of the bread by the
bread of life himself. His mission accomplished. With these two disciples,
issue have vanished from the sight. Even though they didn't
believe the report of his resurrection from the women who
(41:33):
went to the tomb, or Peter and John went to
the tomb, they were walking in the wrong direction away
from Jerusalem. They had lost heart. They didn't understand. So
many believers I've met have hit a struggle or challenge
or problem, something big in their life, and they've walked
(41:56):
away from the shadow of the cross. And yet, even
though they're going the wrong way, he opened their eyes. Oh,
they could have said, hey, this was a angelic visitation,
but it wasn't they go back and talk to the disciples.
(42:18):
It was real. He'd actually walked miles with them, he
questioned them, expounded on the scriptures to them, yielded to
their invitation to abide with them, to even eat food
with them. Oh, no, this was no vision. It was real,
(42:42):
And they said to one another, did not our heart
burn within us while he talked with us on the road,
and while he opened the scriptures to us? That should
have been a clue. Hey, wait, a second. There's only
one person I know that can do this to my heart.
(43:02):
It's only one person I know that can do that
to my heart. And so he left the vanish before
their eyes, and they were left to discuss how they
felt about it, how they felt in their hearts, and
the opening of the scriptures, and what happened. He changed
(43:22):
their mood from despair to their heart burning within. Suddenly
they have relief and excitement because of those scriptures. See,
they didn't want them to leave. They wanted to hear more.
They wanted to talk more. Have you ever been like that?
Happens with Larry and I a lot. Once it gets
(43:44):
going and the spirit shows up and the Holy Spirit's
given revelation, you don't want it to stop. Now they
have relief and excitement deep in their heart, not just
in their mind. Their hopes confirmed, their doubts dispelled. Well
(44:06):
guess what. It may have been evening, but they were
too excited to wait until morning. They hurried back to
Jerusalem on foot, literally at seven miles an hour. How
do I know that? Look at Luke twenty four thirty,
verse thirty three. So they rose up that very hour
and returned to Jerusalem found the eleven and those who
(44:29):
were with them gathered together. It was meet meat. They
went right back, saying, the Lord has risen, indeed, and
he has appeared. They said, he goes. They go there,
and the disciples going, the Lord has risen. Indeed he
has appeared to Simon, and we're going to find out
where that was. And they talked about the things that
(44:50):
had happened on the road, and how he was known
to them in the breaking of the bread. And as
they said these things, Yeshu himself stood in the midst
of them and said to them, Peace to you. Wherever
two more gathered, there also is he. They were gathered
(45:11):
in his name. There he is. He will seek you out.
If your heartbroken or lost, dismayed, the enemies beat you up,
really good, he will seek you out. Be willing to
hear his voice, be willing to see him go with me.
(45:38):
John twenty one. Another example of guys going in the
wrong direction, leaving the shadow of the cross John twenty one.
After these things you show showed himself again to the
disciples that the sea of Tiberius. And in this way
he showed himself. Simon Peter Thomas called the Twin Nathaniel
(46:01):
of Kina and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee. It's
John and James, and two other disciples of his disciples
were with them. So the seven of them, and so
Simon Peter says, I am going fishing, Isn't that? Just
like Peter told to sit down on terry in the
upper room and he has a meeting here. He says,
(46:23):
I'm going fishing. And they said, we're going with you.
So they went out immediately got in the boat, and
that night it must have fished all night. They caught nothing.
That's what happened when you try to do it on
your own and you go out there and you're in
the wrong place. One morning had now come, the shoe
(46:46):
stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know
what was Yeshua. And he said to them, children, have
you any food, mean your fishermen, I'd like to buy
some food from you. And they said no. And he
said to them, cast the net on the right side
of the boat and you'll find some. So they cast,
(47:07):
but now they were not able to draw it in
because of the multitude of fish. We remember this happened
when he first met them. Therefore, the disciple whom Jesus
loved being. John said to Peter, it is the Lord. Now,
when Peter had heard that it was the Lord, he
(47:28):
put on his outer garment, for he had removed it
and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples had
come in the little boat, for they were not far
from land, about two hundred cubics, and dragging the net
with fish. Then as soon as they had come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid
on it and bread. Wait a second, they didn't get
(47:51):
to shore yet the fisher in the boat. But yet
he's prepared to feed them. And you said, bring some
of the fish which you've just caught. So Simon went
up and dragged the net to land full of large
fish one hundred and fifty three. Interesting number, very specific
(48:15):
there in the reporting. And though there were so many
of the net had not broken, your shoes said, come
and eat breakfast. He had. None of the disciples dared
to ask him, who are you? Knowing that it was
the Lord? And then you Shua took the bread and
gave it to them. Likewise the fish. This is the
(48:38):
third time you shoe his sodoms showed himself to his
disciples after he was raised from the dead. You know,
the one thing I see in these stories, it's really
easy to get in despair after you leave the shadow
of the Cross. That's really easy to forget why you
were there in the first place. They decide they're going
(48:59):
to go back to what's familiar. They're gonna go fishing. Now,
whether it was flip for pleasure, but maybe they were
actually returning to work thinking it's all over, we're done,
I don't know. But they went back to what they
were familiar with. And that happens all the time with
people I see wander away. They go back to what
they know. When we lose sight of the Cross, we
(49:24):
return to familiar territory, and unfortunately there are familiar things
they're waiting for us. Peter's broken hearted. He denied the Lord.
I mean in a way that I'll read the description
to you. Is his heart rendering. And he wasn't there
(49:48):
when he died like John was in Matthew twenty six.
After the girl keeps accusing him of being a follower,
and he curses and denies and invokes God's judgments. Where's
an oath? I do not know? The man a rooster crowed,
(50:09):
and Peter remembered the prophetic word of Yushuah when he said,
before a rooster crowz you will deny me three times.
And he went outside and wept bitterly. And the strongest
concordance that word wept, Claire, is to weep, to cry,
(50:31):
to mourn. It's an act of weeping or crying, expressing
deep sorrow. That's the sense of emotional outpouring, whether a
personal grief or repentance. It's a it's a mega, it's
a cry. It's a scream when you realize you've let
(50:51):
him down, when you realize that you failed him. John
may have been the first to recognize the Lord, but
Peter was the first to react. Peter had made a
lot of bad decisions, and he he'll probably make more
(51:14):
along the way. But it was his zeal that we
saw at that moment that would eventually be gentle to
good use. On the day of Pentecost, and he swims
a hundred yards to shore. He couldn't wait. When you
wander away, when you leave the shadow of the cross
(51:37):
and you see him and he calls your voice, you
don't want to wait. The two Disciples Cleophus and Luke.
They walked seven miles back from the way they came
within the hour. Poop couldn't wait and another miraculous catch.
(52:00):
Just as when he first met them, He's telling them
go back to the calling. I will supply your needs.
I'm gonna tell you something right now. If you have
a calling, you can't walk away from it. I'm calling
from Him, not what you desire, oh you just I'm
called to do this, called to do that. If it
(52:21):
doesn't pertain to the kingdom and the furthering of the kingdom,
it's not a calling. If it doesn't glorify him, it's
not an ordained calling. But you can't walk away from it.
And the thing I like about John, Peter and John
obviously had an older brother younger brother relationship. Obviously John
(52:41):
got on Peter's nerves, but they were always together. We
see that in the Book of Acts. John's the only
one who records the Lord restoring Peter to ministry after
that breakfast by the sea of Tiberius did not our
(53:04):
heart burn within us while he talked with us on
the road, and while he opened the scripture to us.
It's with those two disciples on the road to him,
they have said, at the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, and it's so easy to
(53:31):
wander away. Look at men who walked with him. They
knew him personally. They slept with him around the fire,
they ate with him. They saw the miracles, They felt
his hug, his hand upon their shoulder. They heard his
voice in a moment of despair, in a moment of
(53:53):
not understanding the going in the wrong direction. Maybe you've
never done that, but if you ever do, I want
you to remember what I'm saying here today. Or maybe
you have, maybe you still are. I don't know. But
he's seeking you out, he's calling you, He's appearing to
(54:16):
you in some way, shape, form, or fashion, and there's
a burn in your heart for him. I found this
section here I want to read to you. It was
in one of the commentaries. Unfortunately I did not copy
(54:39):
down where I got it from, and that's on me,
but it's not mine. So I'm telling you that one
of the marks of true conversion is the way a
person's heart is changed by the indwelling Messiah. Truth and
events that one seemed unimportant or even irrelevant take on
new significance, new meanings, a cold, dead heart, completely wrapped
(55:04):
up in self centered pursuits against the thaw, and warmed
to the realities of the Spirit and the needs of others.
John Wesley described it by saying his heart was strangely warmed.
The imassed bound disciples asked, were not our hearts burning
(55:24):
within us while he was talking to us on the road,
while he was opening with scriptures to us? Does your
heart burn for the realities of God as it grown
cold due to neglect or sin? Have you lost sight
(55:46):
of the Cross? Only by spending time in the presence
of the living Messiah? Can you reverse the cooling process?
Idt to spending time with him today, tomorrow, and the
(56:08):
next day and every day of your life. If our
hearts are on fire for him, we never lose sight
of the Cross. That's what the Holy Spirit does. It
reminds us of Him, of what he said, of who
he was. It burns within us. And remember none of
(56:28):
these people had been filled with the spirit. Yet you
are I am. That fire is there. It wants to burn,
but you have to put wood on it. You've got
to put something on it. You can't put it out,
you can't quench it. This world so easily does that,
(56:49):
the enemy so easily does that. So as we are
in the transition from Passover to First Fruits to Pentecost,
regain that fire, and even if you have it, make
(57:10):
it greater. It's getting very dark around us, and there's
a lot of dark, cold, demonic things happening. And we
can either respond to it in anger and in the flesh,
or we can respond to it in His name and
his power with his heart. Father, I come to you
(57:30):
right now on behalf of myself and my brothers and
sisters that are listening. I ask you to forgive us
if we've lost sight of the cross. Ask you to
forgive us if we've lost sight of the price you paid.
I ask you to forgive us if we've been unwilling
to pay the price ourselves, and to pick up our
(57:52):
cross daily to follow you. To put down our selfish
desires or preconceived notions or dreams and things that we
thought were of you but never were. Burned it out
of us, Burn the dross out of us, Make us
pure gold, that we reflect you, that we shine you
(58:13):
to a lost and dying world. Remind us each and
every day, Holy Spirit, to pick up our cross, to
be like he was, to be like he is. I
asked for healing in all those areas that the enemy
has heaped condemnation upon us because we failed, and remind
(58:38):
us he forgave Peter. He would have forgiven Judas, but
Judas didn't ask for it. He took his own life.
Help us to remember Lord, and help us to do
this not just for us, but for others. Right now,
(58:59):
I wish I could see my brothers and sisters, because
I know that there are some out there that just
need a hug from you, to know that it's okay.
I forgive you. I'm here with you. I've never left you.
You're not an orphan. No. I will be with you
to the end of time. Fill them, heal them, touch them,
(59:27):
and you shoe his name. Amen. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. May the Lord, may I don't
know I, make his face to shine upon you and
be gracious to you. May the Lord I don't know
you shoe a hummoshiak lift up his countenance upon you
(59:51):
and give you peace. Give you shall oam. I'm Richard Grin.
This has been the Porch on Firefall Talk Radio.
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